Four months after a 73-year-old cyclist was struck by a dump truck and killed in Lefthand Canyon, the Colorado State Patrol finally is starting a detailed investigation into the accident.

Spokeswoman Heather Cobler said the state patrol's District 6, which includes Boulder, Broomfield, Jefferson, Summit and Clear Creek counties, has a backlog of 23 pending investigations into accidents in which someone was killed or seriously injured.

Investigations are prioritized based on the order in which they occur, the complexity of the investigation and the likelihood of felony charges being filed, among other factors, Cobler said.

Eugene Howrey, of Boulder, was killed June 17.

Eugene Philip Howrey (Courtesy photo)

According to the initial police report, Christopher G. Loven was driving a Kenworth W900 dump truck hauling a trailer with construction equipment west on Lefthand Canyon Drive when he turned left to go south on Olde Stage Road. The cyclist, Howrey, was heading east on Lefthand Canyon.

Howrey swerved to the right to try to avoid the truck, state troopers said, but the right side of the truck struck the left side of the bicycle. Howrey was thrown about 36 feet. He suffered fatal injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

At the time, a state patrol corporal said it appeared that Loven, who had a history of confrontations with cyclists, was at fault because he failed to yield the right-of-way. But there still hasn't been a formal finding of fault or decision about tickets or charges.

Loven could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Cobler said the District 6 investigator recently finished looking at an accident in Jefferson County that occurred in May in which a truck went off the road and struck two young men sitting on a bench in a playground. The investigation into Howrey's death is next on the list, Cobler said.

Cobler said the investigation will include a mechanical inspection of the truck and interviews with multiple witnesses. She did not know how long it would take.

Once the investigation is complete, the Boulder County District Attorney's Office would be involved in deciding on any possible criminal charges.

"These are serious accidents, and we need to make sure we know what the appropriate charges are," Cobler said. "We can't just say, 'Oh, it seems like he's at fault.' Instead of getting the answer sooner, we focus on getting it right."

Decisions about charges and tickets in two other serious accidents in Boulder County in recent months were reached more quickly.

A week after Howrey was killed, a pick-up truck driven by Lisa Norton, of Longmont, crossed the center line on Nelson Road and killed Gabriel Nielsen, 33, of Boulder. His sister and 2-year-old daughter were seriously injured.

Norton, whom police said had been drinking all day despite being two days into probation for a previous drunk-driving incident, tried to flee the scene by swimming across Clover Basin Reservoir, according to investigators.

Within a week, she had been charged with first-degree murder and vehicular homicide.

On Sept. 8, state troopers say Albert Gehorsam, of Boulder, struck three women riding in the shoulder of the opposite lane on U.S. 36 north of Boulder. Two of the women suffered serious injuries.

He was ticketed on suspicion of careless driving by the end of the month.

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